The Boa constrictor would commonly be refferred to as a snake, this only means that it is in the suborder serpentes along with many other snakes such as the King Cobra. The Boa is too unique to be classified as just a snake. There are 10 subspecies of Boa, these sub species are
Table 2
Subspecies
Common name
Geographic range
B. c. amarali
Amaral's boa
Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay
B. c. constrictor
Red-tailed boa
South America
B. c. imperator
Common northern boa
Central America and northern South America
B. c. longicauda
Tumbes Peru boa
Northern Peru
B. c. melanogaster
Ecuadorian boa
Ecuador
B. c. nebulosa
Dominican clouded boa
Dominica
B. c. occidentalis
Argentine boa
Argentina and Paraguay
B. c. orophias
St. Lucia boa
St. Lucia
B. c. ortonii
Orton's boa
South America
B. c. sabogae
Pearl Island boa
"Pearl Islands" off the coast of Panama
Habitat
If you refer to table 2 you can see that the Boa Constrictor is most commonly found in a tropical sort of environment, this means that their habitat is most often found in a rainforest (although some Boa's can be found in arid desert land). The boa constrictor is most commonly found in rainforest for a number of reasons. The first reason is that the forest floor is covered with thick leaves and shrub. This makes it alot safer for the boa for there are many more places to hide from it's predators such as the jaguar.
The second reason that the boa constrictor likes the rainforest is that the rainforest is covered with streams and rivers. The boa's long slender body makes it a formidable swimmer which offers advantages to the boa such as quick transport from side to side of the river as well as transport up the river or even to flee from predators.
The third reasons that the Boa constrictor likes the humidity and temperature of a rainforest is the vast amount of prey it brings. The Boa has many options from the small sized rat mammals such as the Lemur (although lemurs are most commonly found in Madagascar but it is still a small rainforest mammal), small reptiles, bird's and bats.
The final reason is that from the shelters made by other animals, the boa can occupy it's on home. The boa is commonly known to take the burrow of another medium sized mammal. The reason for doing so is so that the Boa can hide from it's predators. Because of deforestation the Boa's habitat is dying out as is it's species.
2 Structural Adaptations Camouflage: The Boa constrictor evolved its skin pattern to camouflage it into its surrounding which is most commonly forest. It does this to evade predators such as the jaguar which is its most dangerous predator. Possible environmental preassure could be that Boa constrictor's whose skin pattern stood out were wiped out thus leaving only ones that better camouflaged with the environment.
Body Shape: Boa Constrictor has a long slender body, this helps the boa constrictor more easily and efficiently navigate it's way through the thick leaves and trees of the forest undergrowth. A possible environmental preassure that may have caused this could be that Boa Constrictors that didn't have a slender body found it harder to travel around and evade predators, this would leave only slender boa constrictors remaining today.
2 Behavioural Adaptations
Hunting Technique: The Boa constrictor has developed a hunting technique to catch it's favourite food which is the bat such as the vampire bat. The techinique is for the Boa Constrictor to hang in the tree's and wait for a bat to fly past and to snatch at it. A possible environmental preassure for this adaptation is that boa constrictors that didn't have any sort of technique for catching prey would starve to death and leave only the more clever of the boa constrictors left.
Killing Technique: The boa constrictor has evolved a technique of killing their prey by crushing them to death before they start to consume the prey. A possible environmental preassure for this adaptation could possibly be that boa's that didn't use this technique were subject to harm from the prey violently struggling and lashing out at the snake, using this method makes it harder to catch a meal therefore the Boa constrictors that use this method would have most probably died out.
1 Physiological
Muscles: The Boa constrictor has evolved so it has huge muscles throughout their entire body which makes it easier for them to kill their prey by strangling. An environmental preassure that could have caused this would be that only the strongest Boa's would be able to easily use this technique and the less strong ones would have a harder time trying to kill their meal, this would cause the less strong Boa's to slowly die out.
Titanoboa (Fossil Animal) Potentoboa (Future Animal)
Boa Constrictor
Latin Name - jibóia
Table 1
Species Information
The Boa constrictor would commonly be refferred to as a snake, this only means that it is in the suborder serpentes along with many other snakes such as the King Cobra. The Boa is too unique to be classified as just a snake. There are 10 subspecies of Boa, these sub species are
Table 2
Habitat
If you refer to table 2 you can see that the Boa Constrictor is most commonly found in a tropical sort of environment, this means that their habitat is most often found in a rainforest (although some Boa's can be found in arid desert land). The boa constrictor is most commonly found in rainforest for a number of reasons. The first reason is that the forest floor is covered with thick leaves and shrub. This makes it alot safer for the boa for there are many more places to hide from it's predators such as the jaguar.
The second reason that the boa constrictor likes the rainforest is that the rainforest is covered with streams and rivers. The boa's long slender body makes it a formidable swimmer which offers advantages to the boa such as quick transport from side to side of the river as well as transport up the river or even to flee from predators.
The third reasons that the Boa constrictor likes the humidity and temperature of a rainforest is the vast amount of prey it brings. The Boa has many options from the small sized rat mammals such as the Lemur (although lemurs are most commonly found in Madagascar but it is still a small rainforest mammal), small reptiles, bird's and bats.
The final reason is that from the shelters made by other animals, the boa can occupy it's on home. The boa is commonly known to take the burrow of another medium sized mammal. The reason for doing so is so that the Boa can hide from it's predators. Because of deforestation the Boa's habitat is dying out as is it's species.
Retrieved from: http://www.vivariumsbydesign.co.uk/boa.jpg
2 Structural Adaptations
Camouflage: The Boa constrictor evolved its skin pattern to camouflage it into its surrounding which is most commonly forest. It does this to evade predators such as the jaguar which is its most dangerous predator. Possible environmental preassure could be that Boa constrictor's whose skin pattern stood out were wiped out thus leaving only ones that better camouflaged with the environment.
Body Shape: Boa Constrictor has a long slender body, this helps the boa constrictor more easily and efficiently navigate it's way through the thick leaves and trees of the forest undergrowth. A possible environmental preassure that may have caused this could be that Boa Constrictors that didn't have a slender body found it harder to travel around and evade predators, this would leave only slender boa constrictors remaining today.
2 Behavioural Adaptations
Hunting Technique: The Boa constrictor has developed a hunting technique to catch it's favourite food which is the bat such as the vampire bat. The techinique is for the Boa Constrictor to hang in the tree's and wait for a bat to fly past and to snatch at it. A possible environmental preassure for this adaptation is that boa constrictors that didn't have any sort of technique for catching prey would starve to death and leave only the more clever of the boa constrictors left.
Killing Technique: The boa constrictor has evolved a technique of killing their prey by crushing them to death before they start to consume the prey. A possible environmental preassure for this adaptation could possibly be that boa's that didn't use this technique were subject to harm from the prey violently struggling and lashing out at the snake, using this method makes it harder to catch a meal therefore the Boa constrictors that use this method would have most probably died out.
1 Physiological
Muscles: The Boa constrictor has evolved so it has huge muscles throughout their entire body which makes it easier for them to kill their prey by strangling. An environmental preassure that could have caused this would be that only the strongest Boa's would be able to easily use this technique and the less strong ones would have a harder time trying to kill their meal, this would cause the less strong Boa's to slowly die out.
Figure 1 - Labelled Diagram of a Boa Constrictor
retrieved from: http://media.photobucket.com/image/boa%20constrictor/kike1010/boa-constrictor-emerald.jpg
Bibliography
Christiansburg Elementary.(1998). Endangered Species:Boa Constrictor. Retrieved Tuesday July 27th, 2010 from http://neyture.info/teachered/endanger/reports/reptiles/boa/boa.html
Wikipedia.(2010). Boa Constrictor. Retrieved Tuesday July 27th, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boa_Constrictor
The Animal Files. (n.d.) Boa Constrictor: The Animal Files. Retrieved on Tuesday July 27th, 2010 from http://www.theanimalfiles.com/reptiles/snakes/boa_constrictor.html